Other Procedures

Other Procedures

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Temporary Anchorage Devices (TADs)

Before, bite open in front

TAD placed

X-ray image of TADs

After bite closure

Temporary Anchorage Devices (TADs)
These are comfortably placed threaded pins, into specific bone sites, assisting tooth movement into positions which previously required jaw surgery. These open bite cases were traditionally treated surgically in a hospital setting, by an extremely involved orthognathic surgical procedure to reposition the jaws. This is certainly a more comfortable, non-invasive alternative for certain cases.

This patient presented with a prominent lower jaw. Orthodontic treatment prepared her for a surgical procedure to reposition the lower jaw back into it's proper position. The braces were removed eight weeks after surgery. The total treatment time was 25 months.

This is considered a severe skeletal discrepancy combined with a cleft palate, obvious crowding and numerous other dental concerns. An innovative procedure called distraction osteogenesis was performed to assist in expansion (11mm total) and "pull" the upper jaw to a normalized position approximately 15 mm over a period of one and a half weeks. Four bicuspids were then removed and traditional orthodontics performed to achieve the final result. This treatment is reserved for the most severe of skeletal and dental issues.